Window drapery



oa. 14, 1930. E, A, Kme 1,713,499l

WINDOW DRAPERY E. A. KING VIINDAOW DRAPERY Oct. 14, 1930.

Filed March 17, 1928 s sheets-sheet 2 6 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed March 17 E'. A. KING 1,778,499-

wnmoyg DRAPERY Filed March 17 1928 6 Sheets-Sheet 4 ,E567 Mw A. KWK/ Oct. 14, 1930.

E. A. KING WINDOW DRAPERY Oct. 14, 1930.

Filed March 17 1928 6 Sheets-Sheet 5 Oct. 14, 1930.

E. A. KING WINDOW DRAPERY Fiied March 17, e sheets-'sheet e LWN Patented Oct. 14, 1930 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE WINDOW DRAPERY Application led March 17, 1828. Serial No. 262,387.

The invention has relation to drapery of the class comprising, in lconnection with a window, or other opening or recess, a valance f or equivalent drapery-clement on the order of a heading, and a pair of curtains or a pair of side-drapes; sometimes a pair of curtains as well as a pair of side-drapes. In practice the custom is to-support the valance by its own curtain rod, the curtains by their own rod, and the side-drapes by their own. Thus, in the case of a combination comprising valance and either a pair of curtains or a pair of side-drapes two rods are employed in usual practice; in the case of a combination comprising "valance, curtains, and side-drapes, three rods are employed. Y

The employment of two or three rods is undesirable. They make a cumbrous assemblage of equipment. The cost of the parts used for the support ofthe drapery-elements is proportionate to the number of rods employed. The labor expended in applying a corresponding number of pairs of brackets is proportionate to the number of such pairs. Care has to be exercised in attaching a number of brackets in proximity to one another upon a window-frame, in order that they may be located properly upon the available portions of such frame, and in Ysuitable relationship for the functions they are required to subserve. The insertion of numerous nails or screws into the woodwork is undesirable, and is likely to seriously disligure and otherwise injure the woodwork.

An important object of my invention is to provide for support of the combined draperyelements bymeans of a single rod, whether the combination comprises three elements, as first instanced, or five elements as in the second instance.

Having reference, now, to a further phase of the invention Ordinarily, heretofore, drapery-elements have been hung upon their supporting rods by means of tubular runs formed upon their upper ends, such runs being occupied bv the said rods. Various inconveniences and drawbacks are due to this mode of mounting the drapery-elements upon the rods, certain thereof being associated with the work of fitting the drapery-elements to the window with which they are used; and a material one being the lack of provision for adjustment of the length of pendant drapery-elements'v vertically up or down, as sometimes may be found desirable, either in originally fitting the drapery-elements to a particular Window, or in order to change the relationship of the drapery-elements with respect to the Window,`or for the purpose of adapting to the window drapery-elements not originally fitted thereto. This lack of provision for adjustment of the length of drapery-elements* vertically interferes with transfer of such elements from one window'to another of different measurements vertically. It has operated heretofore todeter manufacturers from producing, and dealers from carrying in stock, drapery-elements already' provided with runs, in readiness for being hungupon the supporting rods at windows.

With a view to improvement in these connections, important objects of the invention are to enable curtains and side-drapes, for instance those which are employed in conjunction with a valance, to be hung in place without requiring` to be formed with runs; to provide for ready and convenient adjustment of curtains and sidedrapes, etc.. vertically; and to render it feasible to manufacture and carry in stock curtains and side-drapes made up complete in all respects through being equipped properly in readiness for being hung, and suitable for application to windows of various sizes in virtue of being adapted for adjustment vertically up or down.

Respecting the usual mode aforesaid of connection of drapery-elements with their supports, it is noted that in preparing a pair of curtains for application to the curtain rod by which they are supported at a window, it is customary, as is well-known, to fold back upon itself the material at the top of a curtain so as to produce two thicknesses, and then to unite these two thicknesses together by one or two lines of stitches extending across the width'of the curtain. Side-drapes are prepared similarly for application to the rod provided for the support thereof. Usually two lines of stitches are applied, such lines being located at a suflicient distance from the line of the fold to produce a heading above the upper line of stitches, and the two lines being separated from each other a sufcient distance to produce below the heading a tubular run proportioned properly to contain a curtain rod, and to permit such rod to be slipped endwise into such run. In the case of a valance, it is formed with such a run to receive the valance-supporting rod. If no heading is desired on a drapery-element, only one line of stitches is applied, located at a distance from the line of fold suitable to produce the required run.

In usual practice, manufacturers do not produce and dealers do not carry in stock, window curtains and side-drapes already provided with runs such as aforesaid. The variations in the measurement from windowtop to window-sill in the case of dierent windows render it inexpedient to make the runs in advance of fitting the said draperyelements to the windows with which they are used. On account of such variations, readymade curtains and drapes manufactured to be sold by dealers are made of the greatest length likely to be required, and without runs formed in the ends by which they will be suspended during use. rThe purchaser of pair of ready-made curtains or side-drapes makes or causes the runs to be formed thereon at a dista-nce from the lower ends of the curtain or drapes answering for the height of the particular window to which they are to be applied. It is of course obvious that in consequence of the practice of manufacturers to which reference has just been made curtains or drapes as bought usually contain more or less excess or redundant material. Sometimes such redundant or excess material is cut away, and thereby converted into waste, although sometimes it is allowed to hangidly at the top of the curtain or drape. This redundant or excess material constitutes a factor in determining the price of the drapery-elements, rendering the cost of the drapery-elements and the sales price higher than otherwise would be the case.

To a very considerable extent, the work of fitting drapery-elements to a window is performed by a member of the household. A general custom in regard to effecting the fitting of a curtain or side-drape, and the making of a heading and a run thereon, is to place a rod in position at the window where the drapery is to be used, and throw over the rod the upper portion of a drapery-element which is intended to hang therefrom, following this by adjustment of the drapery-element lengthwise over the rod to locate the lower end of the drapery-element properly with reference to the desired height at which such lower end is designed to hang. Then a run is formed provisionally in the drapery-element by the application of temporary fastenings, usually pins, binding together the two thicknesses of the drapery-element, as aforesaid, along lines or a. line extending across the draperyelement from edge to edge of the latter. Vhen a heading is desired two lines are applied, one located below the line of fold in the material at a distance equal to the depth of the heading, to thereby produce the heading, and the other line located at a suitable distance from the first to produce the run below the heading. When no heading is required, one line of the said temporary fastenings applied just below the rod is sufiicient. When one person, unaided, as often is the case in households, attends to the fitting, etc., it is necessary for such person, generally a woman member of the household, to climb up high enough to reach the drapery material at the rod and adjust such material relative to the rod, as well as apply the temporary fastenings. From the elevation at which the work is done the condition of affairs at the bottom ends of the drapery-elements usually cannot be perceived, nor is it easy to perceive whether the run is straight, and hence it often is found necessary to descend for the purpose of inspection and then to climb up again and shift the said lines of fastenings up or down, or straighten them, or change their general directon to correct a slant in t-he hanging, or for other purposes. This especially is the case when a heading has to be provided, because in applying the two lines of temporary fastenings, more or less displacement of the drapery-elements and misplacement of one or both of such lines of temporary fastenings is likely to occur. Usually several trials, accompanied by successive ascents and descents, are necessary to be made, before the proper locations of the lines of temporary fastenings defining a run are found. It will be apparent that considerable time and effort may have to be expended in fitting three or five drapery-elements to a window.

Respecting the inconveniences due to lack of capacity for adjustment vertically, it is noted that sometimes after runs have been formed on a pair of curtains or side-drapes it is found that the lower ends of the said ourtains or side-drapes do not hang at the desired height. So, also, sometimes it is wished to transfer curtains and/or side-drapes from one window to another, but the height of the latter window varies from that of the first. In such cases, a necessity for the formation of new runs upon the Curtains or side-drapes, located either higher up or lower down thereon according to the circumstances, is indicated. Before the new runs can be made, however, it is necessary to rip out the original lines of stitches and to make new headings as well as the new runs. The making of new runs located higher up upon the pendant drapery-elements than the original ones may be found to be precluded by reason of the formerly redundant portions of material above the original headings and runs having been trimmed away; Y

For the attainment of the different objects of theinvention, and for the obviation of the inconveniences and drawbacks to which references have been made, my invention comprises the various features which I now will proceed to describe and explain.

Illustrative embodiments of the Ysaid features of the invention are shown in the accompanying drawings, in which latter,'-`

Fig. l is a front view of-a window and drapery thereat comprising'an application of the features of the invention.

' Fig. 2 is a rear view of the assemblage o f drapery-elements which is Vseen in Fig.V 1,7but in Fig'. 2 one of the so-called glass curtains is omitted and portions of the drapery-elements are broken away. The back-turned end-por tions of the curtain rod are in section. Fig. 2 illustrates features of one embodiment of the invention. n

Fig. 3 is a view in vertical section on line 3, 3, of Fig. 2, drawn o n a larger scale.

Fig. 4 is a view similar to' Fig. 2, illustrating ,a second embodiment of the features of the invention. p

Figs. 5 and 6 are views in vertical section online 5, 5, of Fig. 4, drawn on a larger scale than Fig. 4, showing different adjustments.

vFig. 7 is a-view similar to Figs. 2 and 4, showing a third embodiment.

Fig. 8 is a view in vertical section on line 8, 8, of Fig. 7.

VFig. 9 is a front view of a window and drapery-elements applied thereto, presenting a fourth embodiment.

Fig. I0 is a rear view of the upper portions of the draperyLeleinents of Fig. 9.

Fig. l1 is a view in vertical section on line 1i, i1, of Fig. 9.

Having reference to the drawings,-

` The different views thereof illustrate the features of the invention embodied in fivepiece combinations of drapery-elements comprising in each instance a valance 1,'a pair of curtains 2, 2, and a pair of side-drapes 3, 3. In ordinary phraseology, curtains such as thbse shown at 2, 2, often are termed glass curtains, because of being close to the glass of the window, and side-drapes 3, 3, often are termed simply drapes. At option, the pair of curtains may be omitted from the combination, retaining the side-drapes; or the pair of side-drapes may be omitted, retaining the curtains. I-n certain of the views the curtains are shown looped back by means of ties 4, 4, as oftenin practice.

It will be observed that each of the illustrated embodiments of the invention includes means, herein al curtain' rod 5, for supporting upon the framel 7 lof a Ywindow one, hereinV the valance l, of the associated drapery-elements; said rodlacingl mounted ceive said rod 5 so that the latter serves for the support of the valance.

The pendant drapery-elements comprisin in this instance the glass curtains 2, 2,. an the side-drapes 3, 3, are suspended from the valance. Consequently all five drapery-ele ments l, 2, 2, and 3, 3, are supported by means of the one curtain rod 5. The additional rods which heretofore have been employed for the support of the curtains and drapes are eliminated. The supplemental drapery-elements, herein the curtains and side-drapes, are attached to the rod-supported element,y herein the valance, by connective means serving to disconnectibly join the head ends of the said supplemental drapery-elements to the rodsupported element.

In its broader phases, the inventionr is not restricted with respect to the precise character of the disconnectibly engaging connec` tive means. In accordance with one of the specific phases of the invention, the drawings show connective means constituted by buttons 13, 13, and button-holes 14, 14, employed in connection with the valance, and with the head ends of the pendant drapery-elements, for the disconnectible attachment just mentioned.v For convenience, in this instance, buttons 13, 13, ofcollar-button ltype arev employed. The mode of application of the buttons and button-holes may vary, but in the drawings registering button-holes are provided vin connection' with theva'la'nce and the pendant drapery-elements for the reception of loose removable buttons adaptedV to join the drapery-elements to the valance. When i disconnection of the pendant drapery-elements from the valance is required, the buttons may be slipped out of the buttonholes'. Usually, I prefer toV locatethe button-holes so that, as in the drawings, they and the buttons occupying them will be at the back of the valance and will not be visible. at those surfaces of the valance and pendant draperyelements which are presented to view. However, this is not necessary in all cases, inasmuch as the buttons may be exposed and utilized to produce a more or less ornamental and pleasing effect.

If the materials of the'valance and pendant drapery-elements are rof sufficient-substance to obviate injury by the engagement ofthe connective devices therewith, the connective devicesinay` be engaged directly therewith. For example, in such case the button-holes referred to may be made in' the material of one or all of such parts, with orwithout reenforcement as may be found expedient. If the said materialsare not adapted to permit of such direct engagement, supplemental materi'al will be' added to the valance andother ico drapery-elements to provide for such engagement. Thus, in accordance with one portion of the invention I provide, for the purpose of being engaged by the connective devices, strips, as 15, 15, which are connected with the valance, and other strips 151, 151,

which are connected with the pendant elements of the drapery. In the present instance these strips are button-hole strips; that is to say, strips having formed therein button-holes 1-1, 111, adapted to receive the buttons 18, 13. Preferably I employ strips having button-holes formed therein by the process of weaving.

The drawings herein show the connective strips 15, 15. 151, 151, of the diiferent einbodiments of the invention located at the backs of the valances, for the sake of concealment of the strips and buttons. The location of the strips at the backs of the valances places behind the valanccs the attaching portions `of the head ends of the associated pendant drapery-elements, where they will be out of the way and will not mar the appearance at the front of the Valances. Furthermore, in virtue of such location, the heads of the buttons which connect together, through the buttonholes of the strip connected with the valance, the strip connected with a pendant drapery-element and the valance-strip, become enclosed and conned between the valance-strip and the hach of the valance.

In accordance with one portion of the invention I provide for vertical adjustment of the pendant drapery-elements through furnishing a plurality of lines of button-holes at different heights, as shown in Figs. 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10 and 11. This I accomplish through the application of a plurality of strips to the required parts, with such strips spaced apart vertically with relation to one another. Thereby, I make it possible to connect the head ends of the pendant draperyelements with the valance, or with one another, either higher or lower as circumstances may indicate to be advisable. This provides for capacity for adjustment of the length of the pendant drapery-elements vertically, as well as renders unnecessary any identical correspondence between the vertical dimensions of a window and the length or lengths of the said elements. Exact correspondence in vertical measurements being rendered by this phase of the invention no longer necessary, it is made possible to transfer drapery-elements from one window to another. Also, as will be perceived, the invention renders it feasible for a manufacturer to produce, and a dealer to carry in stock and offer for general sale, drapery-elements of convenient standard lengths.

A great deal of drapery material employed at the present time is light and thin. The delicacy of some thereof would render it subject to being drawn out of shape or torn by the weight of pendant drapery-elements engaged therewith, or by pulls or strains accidentally transmitted through the pendant drapery-elements. Such material frequently is approximately transparent so as to perinit objects at the bacl: thereof to be seen therethrough, especially when light comes from behind the drapery. Accordingly, I employ at the back of the valance, whenever such employment is deemed advisable, a pendant piece of material which, as in the case of strip 17 in Figs. 2 and 3, may subserve the combined functions of a hanger-support for a vertical series of connective strips 15, 15, 15, and of a lining and screen to prevent the connective strips and associated connective devices from being visible from the front through the valance, or it may serve simply as a lining and screen as in the case of strip 171 in Figs. 4 to 8.

The strip 17, or 171 as the case may be, is in the illustrated embodiments a downward continuation of the piece of material which constitutes the baclr of the run 8. This is convenient but need not necessarily be the case. In those cases in which, as frequently occurs in practice, the material of the valance is extended upward and then doubled back upon itself in the formation of a heading and run, the strip 17 or 171, will be constituted by the lower part of the doubled-back portion of the valance. In the present instances, there is no doubling back at a foldline, and the heading is constituted by a simple upward extension of the valance-proper, and the piece of material constituting the back of the run and the strip 17 or 171 extends above the run only to a sufficient extent to enable it to be caught by the line 9 of stitches at the top of the run. In such instances, the uppermost connective strip 15 is fastened at the back of the valance by the line 10 of stitches at the bottom of the run.

Each pendant drapery-element 2, 2, 3, 3, is provided with a series of button-holes at its upper margin, provided herein by a buttonhole strip 151 attached to such margin. In Figs. 2 and 3 the hanger-strip and screen 17 has two supplemental series of button-holes,

located at different heights below the series provided in strip 15, such supplemental series being provided herein by connective buttonhole strips 151,151, attached thereto. In such views the top ends of the side-drapes are represented as engaged by means of buttons 13, 13, with the upper connective strips 151 of the hanger-strip and screen 17, while the top end of the glass curtain 2 is engaged with the connective strip 15 next adjacent the run 8. The side-drapes may be adjusted vertically up or down, as may be desired, by shifting its engagement either to the highest connective strip 15 or to the lowest strip 15; the curtain 2 may be shifted down to either of the two lower strips 15, 15.

In Figs. 4c,r 5, 6, connective strips 151, 151, 151, are mounted upon the side-drapes 3. The required position vertically may be given to a side-drape by engaging the proper connective strip 151 thereof by means of the buttons 13, 13, With the connective strip 15 Which is'attached to the valance adjacent the run. Figs. 5 and 6 illustrate two of the possible adj ustments, side by side in the adjoining views. The glass-curtain 2 may be adjusted up or dovvn as described in the case of glass-curtain 2 of Figs. 2 and 3. Y Fig. 8 illustrates a modified mode of hanging the glass-curtain and the side-drape, consisting in engaginga strip 151'ofA the glass-curtain and two strips of the side-drape With the buttons lvvhich are engaged With the strip 15 adjacent the run 8.

, `In Figs. 9, 10 and 11, the connective strips 151,y 15, 15, are attached to the back of the valance by lines of stitches. To conceal these stitches at the exposed face of the lower portions ofthe valance, and also assist in concealing the existence of the tivo lower connective strips, a ruflie 173 is applied to the valance at upper connective strip 15, and its stitches, and the bottom margin of the valance is folded back upon itself in front of the bottom connective strip, formed into a tuck or ruffle 13.

spect to the Width of the Window, and until, i

also, the fullness of the material has been so distributed in gathers as to secure the desired appearance to the eye. Sometimes the curtains or drapes of a pair are slid towardv or from each other along the rod, either to bring their proximate edges close together as inV Fig. 1, or to separate such edges from each other, as indicated in Fig. 9, to any required extent. One drawback in respect of the slidability of the drapery-elements upon their respective supporting rods is the liability to displacement of such elements Whenever they are handled, as. for instance, in the case of a pair of curtains being spread VVapart temporarily. As Will be apparent, in the employment of my invention, the curtains or drapes are attached to the valance, or it might be to each other, so as to locate the curtains or drapes in the desired places across the Width of a Window, With the proximate edges either close together or spaced apart, as may be desired, or with the curtains crossed in their upper portions as in so-called crisscross curtains, as Well as so as to fix the saidV elements in the desired gathers. After being thus attached, the pendant drapery-elements will retain the relative positions Which have been given to them, and there will be less likelihood than heretofore of displacement of the gathers. As Will be apparent, also, any desired changes in these respects admit of being made conveniently or any time.

My invention, as will be seen, not only provides for convenient suspension of curtains, or side-drapes, or curtains and sideldrapes conjointly, from the valance or other elements having a plurality of said lines at different heights, and fastenings disconnectibly joining a line of one drapery-elementlto a line of the other.

2. Drapery comprising, in combination, a

drapery-element. means for attaching the same at a Window, a supplemental draperyelement, each of said drapery-elements having a transverse line of button-holes, and loose removable buttons by Which the supplemental drapery-element is disconnectibly Y attached to the other.

3. Drapery comprising, in combination, a drapery-element,` means for attachingn the same at a Window, a supplemental draperyelement, the said drapery-elements having transverse lines of button-holes, lat vleast one of such'elements having a plurality of said 1 lines at different heights. and loose removable buttons by which the supplemental drapery- 4'. Drapery comprising, in combination, a

'drapery-element, means for attaching the Vextending button-hole strip, and loose removable buttons disconnectibly connecting said strips together.

V. element is disconnectibly attached to the other.

G. Drapery comprising, in combination, a drapery-element having connected with the back thereof a plurality of transversely-extending button-hole strips, a supplemental drapery-element having upon the head end thereof a plurality of transversely-extending button-hole strips, and buttons disconnectibly connecting said strips together.

7. Drapery comprising, in combination, a valance having a run for reception of a curtain-rod and a transverse line of button-holes, a pendant drapery-element having a transverse line of button-holes, and loose removable buttons by which the latter drapery-element is disconnectibly connected to the one first-mentioned.

8. Drapery comprising, in combination, a valance having a run for reception of a curtain-rod, a pendant drapery-element, said valance and pendant drapery-element having attached thereto connective strips located at the back of the valance.

9. Drapery comprising, in combination, a valance having a run for reception of a curtain-rod, a strip having the combined functions of a hanger and a screen at the back of the valance, connective strips applied to said hanger and screen strip at the back of the latter, a pendant drapery-element having a connective strip, and connective means joining the said connective strip of the said drapery-element to a connective strip of the hanger and screen strip.

10. Drapery comprising, in combination, a valance, a strip at the back of the valance having the combined functions of a hanger and a screen, connective strips applied at different heights to said hanger and screen strip, a glass-curtain having a connective strip, a side-drape having a connective strip, and connective means joining the connective strips of the glass-curtain and side-drape to connective strips of the hanger and screen strip.

11. Drapery comprising, in combination, a supporting drapery-element having connected therewith at its back a transversely: extending button-hole strip, a supported drapery-element having attached to the headend thereof a transversely-extending buttonhole strip, and buttons occupying button-- holes in the superimposed strips, with heads thereof enclosed between the strips and the back of the supporting drapery-element.

12. Drapery comprising, in combination, a supporting drapery-element having connected therewith at its back a transversely-extending button-hole strip, a supported drapery-element having attached to the headend thereof a transversely-extending buttonhole strip, and loose buttons occupying button-holes in the superimprosed strips, with heads thereof enclosed between the strips and the back of the supporting drapery-element.

13. Drapery comprising, in combination, a

supporting drapery-element having connected therewith at its back a transversely-extending button-hole strip, a supported drapery-element having attached to the headend thereof a transversely-extending strip, and buttons connecting said strips together through the button-holes of the strip first mentioned, with their heads between the latter and the supporting drapery-element.

la. Drapery comprising, in combination, a supporting drapery-element having connect-- ed therewith at its back a transversely-extendin button-hole strip, and having a tuch or ruffle in front of such strip concealing the securing stitches for the strip, a supported drapery-element having attached to the headend thereof a transversely-extending strip, and buttons connecting said strips together through the button-holes of the strip first mentioned, with their heads between the later and the supporting drapery-element.

EDWARD A. KING. 

